The Cabinet will conduct another round of negotiations with an alliance of opposition party lawmakers today -- a step that, if successful, could put an end to the long and heated debate over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (
Speaker of the Legislative Yuan Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang, on behalf of the opposition alliance, presented Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
If the opposition alliance agrees to accept the Cabinet's resolution today, the Cabinet is likely to announce its final decision soon and is expected to follow with the resumption of the plant's construction.
Expressing hope to end the lingering political struggle as soon as possible, Cabinet Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) yesterday said that the Cabinet expected the legislature to compromise on the plant's future budgets and the new energy law in today's negotiations.
"We hope that the legislature can agree that the plant's following budgets be allocated by the new legislature [to be elected at year-end]," Chiou said at a press conference yesterday evening, adding that the clause should be put in a written agreement and endorsed by the opposition alliance.
The opposition alliance had previously stated that the plant's future budgets should be "handled in accordance with related laws" -- a statement that Chiou said the Cabinet found to regulate the plant's future too strictly.
Chiou also said that the Cabinet hoped to conduct negotiations with the opposition alliance before it started drafting the energy law to prevent unnecessary disagreement between the Cabinet and the legislature in the future.
Many media reports speculated yesterday that the Cabinet was expected to make concessions to the legislature and officially announce resumption of the plant's construction yesterday.
One evening paper headline claimed boldly that the decision would be made in the afternoon, the other stated it would be in the evening. It was neither.
It was also speculated that the premier might summon a provisional meeting of the Cabinet meeting before its regular Wednesday meeting. By press time such a meeting had not been called.
Chang, instead, continued to seek support from DPP leaders to ward off factional discord within the party.
He spent much of yesterday exchanging views with DPP heavyweights including legislative leaders Chang Chun-hung (
DPP legislative whip, Chou Po-lun (
"If the Cabinet announces the plant's construction will restart, the DPP legislative caucus will not support, oppose nor endorse the measure," he said.
Chang Chun-hung, who is also leader of the DPP's New Century faction and an anti-nuclear hardliner, also lambasted the Cabinet's possible compromise, saying "even a compromise won't guarantee any future political stability."
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